moviecritichank-7 Pocahontas is the 33rd full-length animated feature released by Walt Disney Pictures in 1995. Billed by Disney with the tagline of "An American Legend Brought to Life", it is the story of the free-spirited Pocahontas who seeks to convince her father Chief Powhatan to make peace between her Native American tribe and the English settlers of the New World of Jamestown that arrive in search of gold and prosperity. During the production of this film, then Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios Jeffrey Katzenberg regarded Pocahontas as a home run film film for Disney in light of what he thought to be the more mature story in comparison to "The Lion King", which was released a year earlier. However, while it was the 4th highest grossing film world-wide in '95 and did pretty well on the home video market in '96, this film didn't quite live up to the standard set by its predecessors like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. However, while it's my least favorite film of the storied Disney Renaissance era, there were still some things that I actually liked about the film which I will highlight in this review.I'd say that like most of the Disney films that came out before (and especially during) the Renaissance period for Disney, Pocahontas is very strong in the music department! Before I ever saw this movie, I remember being in awe of the song "Colors of the Wind", which is the scene that appeared in the previews for the VHS of The Lion King. In spite of the shallow character development (which I will highlight in this review), Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz did a fantastic job on the songs and the score in this movie. For me, the song "If I Never Knew You" takes the cake for best song in this movie and it's only sung in the credits for the theatrical version of the film. I liked how deep the lyrics are as they highlight the meaning behind John Smith's line "I'd rather die tomorrow than live 100 years without knowing you", which he quotes to Pocahontas right before he is to be executed the next dawn. I do wish that they left the song in the final cut of the film, but it is on the special edition DVD/Blu-Ray version. I also enjoyed the song "Savages" mainly because it highlights the animosity that the settlers have towards the Native Americans for capturing John Smith as well as the animosity that the Native Americans have towards the settlers and John Smith for the death of one of their own (even though it wasn't him that pulled the trigger). The song serves as a reminder to us that we should never justify killing/wanting to kill someone out of hatred just because they might be different than us. Now for the weaknesses of the film. Oh boy, where to start! While the movie is based off of the Native American legend and the Disney animators did the right thing by going to Jamestown to get the inspiration for their animation, they definitely missed the ball in a few areas. Let's touch on some of the historical inaccuracies for a bit. In 1607 (the year that the settlers arrived to Jamestown and which the movie is set), Pocahontas (who was born in 1596) was around 10-11 years old when she met John Smith, who was 26-27 years old at the time. Did that matter to Disney though? No, because they just had to make this a love story in the vein of Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid. However, unlike Pocahontas, those stories are fairy tales. This is key part of American history and now that I'm older I definitely think that Disney did a great disservice to children by taking what could've been an educational introduction to the Native American legend by giving them a love story that didn't happen in real life. Anyways, as far as character development is concerned, while not nearly as dull, wooden, bland, and static as Aurora, Snow White, or Cinderella, Pocahontas (voiced by Irene Bedard) is still a pretty boring and one-dimensional character with very little motive to her, which is a shame with her being the main protagonist and all. While also underdeveloped and one-dimensional, I found her best friend Nakoma to be a much more interesting character than that of Pocahontas. The rest of the Native Americans such as Chief Powhatan (voiced by Russell Means) and Kocoum (who is your basic stereotypical jock placed in colonial times) were pretty flat and boring too. I actually found the settlers to be much more entertaining, mainly the comic screwball Wiggins! As far as John Smith (voiced by Mel Gibson) is concerned, I would've much rather seen him portrayed with the harsh and gruff exterior that he showed to his men in real life. The best characters in this film were Meeko, Flit (voiced by Frank Welker), and Grandmother Willow (voiced by Linda Hunt), who is by far one of the wisest characters that Disney has ever created. Another thing that made the four films which preceded this one (and a few that came after it) was a strong, round, and dynamic Disney antagonist. In this one we get Governor Ratcliffe (voiced by the late great Disney legend David Ogden Stiers). While he did a good job (as he always does) of voicing the character, Ratcliffe still remains a forgettable villain when compared to the likes of Scar, Jafar, Hades, Frollo, and other villains in the Disney catalog as he lacked that despicable, disgusting nature that is trademark of a memorable Disney villain. So, while I think that this movie as a whole is the weakest of this era of Disney magic in regards to story (not being historically factual) and character development (being shallow and one-dimensional), it was still a decently animated film with great songs and music that deserves at least one viewing. Not my favorite (even though I did own it on VHS growing up), but still worth showing to your kids on family movie night! Rating: 7/10.

Hermione Granger I've heard this called many things, such as "racist," but I watched this for the first time today, just 'cause. I was expecting bad things, for it's been turned down by many people, but I had seen a few clips that didn't seem bad and was hoping a bit. Now I think it should be called "the most underrated Disney movie."Honestly, "racist" is the last thing I would call it. The English are the bad guys, and all the good guys are the natives. Like another said, Disney put the natives in the light, so I don't see why "racist" is a word for this. This is a masterpiece. Sure, white people call natives "savages," and so do natives to white people. (Which makes it interesting that the opposites see each other the same.) They also call each other devils, which was a bit disturbing, but that is probably one of the few things that was accurate about this. Sure, most of it is inaccurate, but why be annoyed by that when the fairy tales Disney does are inaccurate? I loved the personality of Pocahontas. She was spunky, kind, curious, and even had a sense of humor! The characters (personalities) of John Smith and Governor Ratcliffe didn't seem to be that well-built, but they were built well enough that when John Smith left, I was a bit depressed, and when the villain got what he deserved, I was satisfied.The music and songs are incredible. We all know about "Colors of the Wind," and some know "Just Around the River Bend," but I liked the intro song "Steady as the Beating Drum" and its reprise, which were new to me, along with the other songs. Sometimes, at moments where there where no words, the music took over and spoke instead. his has a different style of songs than other Disney movies, but it's a good different and has a wonderful uniqueness to it. One beautiful thing is that this shows acts of true love. Pocahontas risks getting herself hit--and killed--when she throws herself on top of John Smith, and John Smith blocks Chief Powhatan, making himself get shot. They care about another before him/herself.The animation was well-done. When light flashed, you could see faces and people from a different perspective that looked 3-D. Not everyone looked the same. I like that Pocahontas didn't have enormous eyes but was still pretty. Grandmother Willow was moving around, yet wasn't 2-D. Fire, smoke, and shadows were well-done. The backgrounds weren't as good as they used to be, like in Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, where they looked real, but they were still good.The characters, music, and animation all put together blew me away. When John Smith left at the end, music to the tune "Colors of the Wind" began playing, but it was louder and more powerful, also more beautiful. With the desperateness on Pocahontas's face, the music, and the connection I felt to the characters, I was crying. Seriously, crying, sobbing, not just wet eyes. I won't say what happens at the very end, but there was a connection of some sort between Pocahontas and John Smith in the last few seconds, and it broke my heart and touched it at the same time.Of course, it isn't perfect. I didn't like that "spirits were everywhere," and I didn't like many of the characters. In the past, Disney has made it clear when a song is coming--music starts building up, and there's a pause of talking, but here, I was surprised multiple times when characters suddenly started singing. It was disturbing to hear both sides call each other "devils," too.But even with its flaws, this is a masterpiece. It should get more attention and is a wonderful movie everyone should see.

Richard Hsu Do you remember, when you were little, how you sat with your family on a boring night and watched Pocahontas together? Pocahontas is a 1995 Disney animation that heavily relied on Native American history and culture to entertain the American children. Pocahontas is one of those movies in which you enjoy watching when you were little, but the only reason you would re-watch it is for nostalgia. However, besides providing us with childhood memories, Pocahontas also provided us with a schema that models our concepts of Native Americans culture and values, which we refer to growing up. In addition, it is a movie that emphasized on romance rather than the Native American culture.First of all, although the movie is based on a historical event, there are several significant historical inaccuracies. In the Disney adaptation, Pocahontas is a young adult while in reality she was only eleven or twelve when she met John Smith. This brings into question the primary conflict that Pocahontas faces in the movie: the forbidden love between her and John Smith. The real age difference between Pocahontas and Smith, along with several historical speculations, suggests that there was never any real romantic relationships between the two. In addition, one obstacle that stood in between the love of Pocahontas and Smith is her arranged marriage with Kocoum. Historically, there are mentions of her marrying Kocoum (although not proved), but it happened during her story with John Rolfe and not with Smith. Furthermore, even the famous story of how Pocahontas saved John Smith from death may be partially false. Some historical accounts suggest that Pocahontas saving Smith was part of a ritual Native Americans perform to welcome a stranger as family.These historical inaccuracies show how the Disney film does not place much emphasis on being historically accurate, but more on developing a romanticized plot that the American audience and children desires. Actually, one of the first pitch for the idea behind Pocahontas is "an Indian princess who is torn between her father's wishes to destroy the English settlers and her wishes to help them—a girl caught between her father and her people, and her love for the enemy." This is shown towards the end of the film where the Native Americans and English settlers were about to wage war with each other. The entire mise-en-scène (the effect of the details in the setting), in which the color of the skies turned from a calm blue to a violent red, shows Pocahontas's dilemma between her tribe and her love. Another technique that the producers used to emphasize the romance between Pocahontas and Smith is to develop the character of Smith as a lovable hero. Before he met Pocahontas, he is just another Englishman that likes adventures and is willing to kill "Injuns." For example, the scene was low key (lighting is dimmed to show shadows and darkness) just when he was about to shoot Pocahontas, which emphasizes the dark and suspicious side of Smith that is willing to kill Native Americans. However, after he met Pocahontas, Smith is suddenly developed into a kind character that is absolutely in touch with the Native American culture (for instance when he could see Grandmother Willow). This "fated" transformation of the "hero" in the script allows the audience to disregard unethical actions of Smith's past (and any other Englishmen for the matter) and focus solely on the development of the romance throughout the movie. In the end, this movie never truly teaches about the Native American history and culture, but is just another Western romanticized film adaptation of the Native American culture. Because the purpose of the film is to be more "socially responsible" than "historically accurate," as supervising animator Glen Keane explains, there are several instances where they misrepresented the Native American culture in the film (despite hiring Native American consultants and doing other research on their own). For example, the physical appearances of the Native Americans in the film were not representative of the actual Powhatan people (Pocahontas's tribe). One of the most popular representation of Native American in Western film and media is the use of headdresses (or war bonnets) and feather headbands. Pocahontas is not an exception to this misrepresentation: it is seen that chief Powhatan wears a headdress and Kocoum wears a feather headband. In reality, however, headdresses and feather headbands were only worn by a small number of tribes that were West and North of the Powhatan tribes. Despite this, one thing that Disney and their consultants did get right is the clothing style of the Native Americans: shirtless with breechclouts and leggings for men, and one-piece dresses for women. Finally, Pocahontas is a well-made animation in 1995 for a movie about Native Americans in 1995. The producers went through extensive research on the culture of the Native Americans to make sure that they are using the most historically accurate information (such as for the clothing of the Native Americans). However, their true intentions were never to be historically accurate, but to produce a likable American film, which means that there are several places where historical accuracy is sacrificed.

Filipe Neto This is certainly one of the most notable animation films that Disney did in the 1990s. It has an undeniable quality, with exquisitely done animations, great songs and fun suitable for children and adults. However, its impossible to get around an undeniable fact: all that the film portrays is fiction, imagined around names of historical characters who actually existed. The connection between this film and historical facts ends in these names. Everything, absolutely everything else, was created in the minds of Disney's writers and creators. So pay attention, history teachers and parents: don't think that this movie has any connection with history. Another problem of the film is to approach in a very stereotyped and slight way the two confronting cultures (the colonizers and the Native Americans, its understood). But since its a children's film, this kind of lightness is forgivable.One of the highlights of the movie is music. Several of his songs were remarkable, especially for my generation, who was a child when the film was released. "Colors of the Wind" is perhaps one of the most poetic songs used in a Disney movie, it stays in the ear with great ease and the animation used during the music is excellent. In fact, the synchronicity of visual animation and music is something very well made. This movie is great if it's seen as an entertainment fiction, like an animated children's movie that does not show anything true.